I’m Officially in love with Phillip

Before I start anything, I just wanted to share my current obsession. Have any of you heard the Gotye song, Somebody That I Used to Know? If you have ears and a radio (or watch American Idol), I’m sure you’ve heard it. This is a quasi-cover I saw on my favorite Bravo show and I’ve watched it like, 5-6 times since I saw it… 2 hours ago haha. Watch it. I promise, you will like it. If you don’t love the kid in the black hoodie, you don’t have a soul. haha. Here it is – Enjoy!

So I got home a little late, hungry, so I didn’t start Idol until around 9:00 and as I logged into twitter and my other forms of social media, I was a little surprised…

Randy? Right? What’s this? How can this be? I guess time would tell… and then I saw these, and these? Didn’t surprise me at all… haha.

Clearly not everyone in the twitterverse is crazy, so maybe Randy was right about something. Time would tell. Oh, and speaking of the “yo” catchphrase and his “yo” pin, I found out who makes them, all thanks to twitter! And it doesn’t look shady at all.

Now, lets get back to the music! Here’s the set list and what we had to look forward to!

It was a list I was digging, for sure. You certainly don’t see Damien Rice on an AI set list often, if ever. So let’s delve into how they did.

Phillip
Have you Ever Seen the Rain – CCR
Is it just me or has there been a lot of CCR this season? Not that I’m complaining but I think this is the third or fourth CCR song. Nevermind. I just looked it up, it’s only the second. The first was last week. I digress. Did anyone notice the sexy saxaphone was back? And, noticably missing? Phillip’s guitar! I liked it. I mean, I like the guitar, but I like that he doesn’t need to have it to perform well. All he needs is the grey shirt, and the sexy saxaphone.

Hollie
Faithfully – Journey
The guitarist looked like Nick Miller from New Girl. Just wanted to throw that out. I couldn’t get a picture of it because I was too lazy to get up and take a picture with my phone but take my word for it. As for Hollie’s performance, I thought it was really good. I usually hate Randy shout outs but I do love when they reference his time in Journey. Mostly because I remember that when he was in Journey, he looked like this:

Tell me that’s not amazing. Amazing. Look at all those 7’s! It surprises me he doesn’t have a 7 pin in his collection!

Joshua
Your Raise Me Up – Josh Groban
They sang this song at my grandmothers funeral, so I feel like I can’t acurately judge this performance because I just sob whenever I hear it. That and Here I Am Lord. Sobbing mess. I wasn’t a complete sobbing mess for Joshua but it certainly made me teary. Damn hormones. I agreed with Jennifer though that I liked when he got raised up on the platform. Nothing like living the metephor. I was surprised they kept calling it a Josh Groban song and not just like, “traditional” or something (I guess it was so that it would fit into the “California Dreamin'” theme). While his version doesn’t even compare to the incomperable Josh Groban, it was pretty good.

Jessica
Steal Away – Etta James
Is it a good thing that the growl isn’t a new thing? I still just think Jessica is weird. I partly wonder why I don’t like her, what it is about her that I’m not a fan of, but to this day she has always bothered me. Maybe it’s how young she is? And when Randy was saying how he doesn’t know how she’s able to tap into pain? I really don’t think she can. I don’t think she brings the emotion that the judges seem to think her voice conveys.

As for the duets of the evening (which I was anxiously awaiting after hearing twitter blowing up about the Randy ciricism) If I can say anything about the boys duet, I agree it was the perfect mesh of soul and pop rock, as JLo said. An unexpected treat. Unfortunately, the twitterverse was right. I can’t really say anything nice about Eternal Flame. I’d venture to say Randy was right. And you know that’s a rarity. Don’t ruin Bangles songs for me ladies. Jessica just doesn’t know how to sing with other people in my opinion. I’ve hought that in every duet she’s sung. I did like when the guys started swinging on the swings.

As for the group song, it was fine. I think that’s all I need to say.

Phillip Phillips
Volcano – Damien Rice
Remember when I fell in love with Kris Allen because he sang the song from Once? No? It’s a lot like my feelings for Phil, for singing a Damien Rice song. Ever have one of those nights where someone just cheated on you/broke up with you/broke your heart and you just want to cry into your pillow listening to super sad music? Well, yeah, that’s Damien Rice that you want. And I have to thank my dear friend Stephanie, for bringing me to his concert and making me see the light and the darkness that is Damien Rice. My favorite Damien song? That’d be 9 Crimes (don’t be fooled by the female that starts the song. She’s just his duet-er). When Phillip said that he just loved the lyrics… yeah. With Damien, it’s ALL about the lyrics. All about the lyrics. That’s it. I’m officially in love. Phillip for the win. Phillip and Damien Rice. I also like that he sang it because he is beyond different compared to Damien so I think that is always a good thing when you can sound completely different from the song someone loves, and still be really great. And who needs a sexy saxophone when you can have a sexy cellist.

Hollie
I Can’t Make You Love Me – Bonnie Raitt
I thought Hollie sang this really well (minus how she said “patronize” which just sounded more like patronus, than it did patronize). I don’t know if she did that completely amazing job like Jimmy said she needed to, but she can’t be upset with what she did tonight. If she goes out this week (which I have to imagine she’s poised to do) she still has to be happy with what she put out tonight. Was it just me or, when she was done did she just look like she was thinking “ok, rip me a new one, I’m ready”. I will say I don’t agree with the judges. Hollie may not have expressed the right emotion but you can’t say she did when you said Jessica did, because I don’t think either of them conveyed the emotion.

Joshua
It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World – James Brown
This was beyond a perfect song for him. I have to say I kind of loved it (when I don’t look at his face because that just makes me laugh). His voice was great though. The performance was great, vocally. And did anyone see Randy looking a little like he was having a mild seizure while watching? I think he was just bobbing his head in a bizarre way but it was a bit of a mild seizure look to it.

Jessica
And I’m Telling You – Jennifer Holliday
Didn’t someone just sing this? Maybe I’m just thinking of when I was comparing Idol to Glee? That must be it since it hasn’t been sung this season… I definitely think this was better than her previous song but it was a little heavy on the growling. And for the record, I still think JHud did it better. I just wish she would move around. You’d think she has cement blocks on her feet in that performance the way they were hidden by the fog. Also, I’m over the standing O’s judges.